Dave Bailin and The Bailouts Bio

Dave Bailin & the Bailouts, a 4 piece soul rock band out of Salem, MA that has been performing together since 2009, is a downright fun band with a loyal following in Salem as steady fixtures at In a Pig’s Eye and Brodies Seaport. They also play all over the North Shore; Spot Light Tavern in Beverly, The Grog in Newburyport, The Dog Bar and Rhumbline in Gloucester to name some of the more popular venues.

They released their self titled studio album in November of 2015 with 9 original songs to rave reviews. Check out their reviews in the review section. In 2011 they released their first CD “On The Wire”, a live recording with 8 originals with some obscure covers mixed in. Dave still plays acoustic as a soloist, and does duos and trios with different members of the Bailouts as well as other top notch local musicians. He has been a long standing host of Open Mic Night at In A Pig’s Eye in Salem, the last Monday of every month.

Front man David Bailin (guitar, vocals and harmonica) has been playing professionally as a soloist, duo, trio or full band since 1989, playing all over the North Shore. His unique style and taste in music draws from 1950’s R&B, blues, Bob Dylan, Stones, country, reggae, classic rock and Radiohead. He has always written his own music and likes to cover songs that fit his style, some by popular artists but not necessarily the most popular songs; he has always dug a little deeper.

Lead guitarist Eric Reardon is a force to be reckoned with all on his own. Eric freelances for several bands but has always enjoyed playing with Dave; they have been playing together since Eric was 14. Eric brings excitement, energy and style well beyond his years.

Drummer Steve Peabody, a graduate of Berklee School of Music, teaches music during the day and drums like it’s nobody’s business at night. It is quite clear to see when he is playing that he loves what he does. The passion and pure fun that he has when playing with the Bailouts carries directly over to the rest of the band and the audience.

Bassist Steve "The Bullet" Burke is the newest and youngest member of the Bailouts. He plays a fat six string bass. He can laydown a bass solo and sound like a seasoned guitar player but is as solid as granite giving this band one of the best rhythm sections around.

.

photo: Staci Antonelli

Dave Bailin's Life and Career in Music By Bill Copeland on February 24, 2016

North Shore musician Dave Bailin has received a lot of notice lately for his seven year old band Dave Bailin & The Bailouts. This singer-songwriter-guitarists from the classic rock and blues schools of thought honed his skills through many years as an open mic host and from slogging his way through many bands with varying degrees of success to arrive at where he is today. Some highlights from his career and life and music shed some light on the kind of success he is having today.

Dave Bailin & The Bailouts formed back in 2009 by circumstance. His guitarist’s parents, up until last spring, had owned the restaurant and music venue In The Pig’s Eye up. Bailin had been living across the street from Pig’s Eye since 1997 and he eventually started playing with the previous owner’s son, a young guitarist named Eric Reardon. The two began playing together in duos until Bailin met Berklee trained drummer Steve Peabody while reconnecting with his former bassist Eli Timmons, from a much older project.

The latest Bailin project was named after a contemporary political term. “It was Eli’s idea. He said you should call it Dave Bailin & The Bailouts,” Bailin recounted. “It was kind of topical at the time. Obama had just become president with all the bail outs.”

Before this current band, Bailin had left behind him a trail of projects, having hosted open mics and having played in bands since he had graduated from high school in 1989. It was difficult to get a band going in his early days, so he started hosting open mics.

“I really cut my teeth doing a gig up in Dover, New Hampshire Sundays, a place called Durgin’s,” he said. Bailin found that the people there were most interested in jamming with him rather than getting up on stage by themselves, making Durgin’s the venue where he first learned how to play with other players and where he had learned a lot of new material he wasn’t already familiar with.

Yet, the first open mic he had been hosting was at the old Sportsman’s Lodge in Newburyport, a place where used to wash dishes and bus tables, as he had lived within walking distance of the room. “I’m still friends with a lot of people I met at that open mic,” he said.

photo: Staci Antonelli

Back around 1990 the singer-songwriter-guitarist formed The Bailin Band, using some horn players in that band, and being influenced by John Hammond’s Southern Fried. “He had a dirty sounding band,” Bailin said. “Gregg Allman plays guitar on this record. What I really liked about the album was it was bluesy but you could hear everything real clearly. You could hear exactly what the bass was playing, the guitar was playing, the horn lines. It was all simple, but it was right in the pocket. I kind of modeled my sound after it.”

Bailin actually began his music training as a child, becoming a fan of his parents’ record collection. Blues, jazz, Motown could be heard playing in their living room, a room with a record player but no TV.

His father was a big influence on him at that time. “He’d tell me a story, he could get the legends of how they died,” Bailin said, recalling how his father would tell him that Sam Cooke was murdered by a lady friend. Those stories had haunted Bailin’s young imagination, keeping him fascinated with all kinds of music. He was listening to oldies, doo-op, 1960s music at a time in his life when most children were listening to AM hits.

Bailin picked up one of his father’s harmonicas at 12 and by ear was learning to play blues on it.

“I had all kinds of stereo equipment in my bedroom,” he said. “I used to make tapes.” Then he started pluggin a mic into is sterio amplifier to play harp. His father had to buy him a guitar amplifier for Christmas so he wouldn’t blow fuses and tubes in his stereo. Bailin’s next step was to play and sing at summer camp, at night time, before the other kids all went to sleep.

Bailin’s second influence at the time was a Bob Dylan album he had found in his uncle’s record collection The music on that Dylan record blew his mind and made him want to become a songwriter. “I wanted to do what Dylan was doing,” he said. “So, I actually made myself a harmonica holder out of a coat hanger and a rubber band, and I got a cheap guitar, and I started taking some lessons.” His music teacher gave him a real harmonica and some lessons on how to play guitar and harmonica.

photo: Staci Antonelli

Bailin had started The Bailin Band, which worked out for a little while, but he eventually moved onto forming Spot The Looney, an originals band that had played The Middle East, Mama Kin’s, The Linwood, and other name venues around greater-Boston. He also took it as far north as Maine. Spot The Looney had pulled Bailin into modern music at a time when Pearl Jam was coming out and he was still old school. His new band mates influenced him while he was influencing them with his old school interests. “We ended up writing some really good stuff,” he said. “We put out a couple of tapes we recorded.”

Bailin moved to Salem, Massachusetts in 1997 and Spot the Looney desovled. A few years later he formed another band with a couple old Looney members and they called themselves Sweet Tooth. Soon they were booking gigs at Dodge Street Grill and other North Shore venues.

Bailin’s last two albums were a Dave Bailin & The Bail Outs studio album and an acoustic duo album with guitarist Eric Reardon. The studio album was initially supposed to be a two song project, but Bailin got so in depth with the process, that he soon had an album’s worth of material. “I spent a year going back to the studio once a week, bringing in some horn players,” he said. “I brought in Jenny Dee to do back ups on a song.”

Bailin recently released his acoustic duo album because he wanted to stay active. He has also been playing a lot of acoustic gigs, so he wanted to have something to reflect that interest. “I went in there one night. I brought Eric with me,” Bailin said. “We have 11 songs on that record. We recorded them all in one night with one night to mix it and one night to master it. We cranked it out that fast.”

photo: Staci Antonelli

The guitarist-singer-songwriter would now like to get back into the studio with his full band. His concept is to make a great rock and roll album with two and a half minute songs on it. “My last album had seven minute songs on it. That’s a lot of work,” he said. “I got inspired. I’ve been listening to The Beatles lately, Rubber Soul, Revolver. In two and a half minutes, they put a lot into a song. There’s no shortage of lyrics. It rocks. There’s solos.”

Dave Bailin is certainly a young man in a hurry. His breathless enthusiasm forces him to take his music as far north as Maine and as far south as the Florida Keys. Music fans in any of those places should go see him soon.